Toby Stevens, of the Enterprise Privacy Group, believes a shortage of fingerprint scanners could lead to an explosion in “flash and dash” fraud. And that, he says, could scupper the scheme before it gets off the ground. The Home Office has said it will set up a hotline for traders […]
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The Economist’s attitude to liberty today
A mob of Britain’s finest eccentrics will gather in central London on February 28th. Their ranks will include outspoken novelists, radical lawyers and fed-up judges. David Davis, an unusual MP who left the shadow cabinet to wage guerrilla war from the backbenches, will be there; so will Shami Chakrabarti, the […]
Read MoreConvention on Modern Liberty: “What we have lost”
From the Convention’s “Abolition of Freedom Act 2009”: One of the problems with the erosion of liberty in Britain over the last decade was that the public failed to pay attention to what was happening in Parliament. Laws that fundamentally challenged our traditions of rights and liberty and flew in […]
Read MoreFight against terror ‘spells end of privacy’
How I look forward to The Convention on Modern Liberty: Sir David Omand, the former Whitehall security and intelligence co-ordinator, sets out a blueprint for the way the state will mine data – including travel information, phone records and emails – held by public and private bodies and admits: “Finding […]
Read MoreModern Liberty
Via Spy chief: We risk a police state – Telegraph: Dame Stella [Rimington, ex-head of MI5,] accused ministers of interfering with people’s privacy and playing straight into the hands of terrorists. “Since I have retired I feel more at liberty to be against certain decisions of the Government, especially the […]
Read MoreBBC NEWS | UK | Government plans travel database
The government is compiling a database to track and store the international travel records of millions of Britons. Computerised records of all 250 million journeys made by individuals in and out of the UK each year will be kept for up to 10 years. The government says the database is […]
Read MoreHouse of Lords: rise of CCTV is threat to freedom
The steady expansion of the “surveillance society” risks undermining fundamental freedoms including the right to privacy, according to a House of Lords report published today. The peers say Britain has constructed one of the most extensive and technologically advanced surveillance systems in the world in the name of combating terrorism […]
Read MorePolice set to step up hacking of home PCs – Times Online
Via Police set to step up hacking of home PCs – Times Online – digg story: THE Home Office has quietly adopted a new plan to allow police across Britain routinely to hack into people’s personal computers without a warrant. The move, which follows a decision by the European Union’s […]
Read MoreBack to the drawing board for road pricing
It looks as if it is time to pronounce the last rites for pay as you drive charging. Good. We are already taxed according to the efficiency of our cars and the distance we drive them through fuel duty. Thankfully, we may now escape being tracked wherever we go. read […]
Read MorePublic faith in ID cards slumps
An article illustrating the value of patience (but how difficult it is to be patient in the face of such a scheme): The public’s faith in ID cards has slumped in the wake of a series of data loss scandals by the Government. Those in favour of the card now […]
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